Survey submitted: Thu 19 Nov 2009

Handle, ex-handle(s):
Main handle these days is "Sahkolihaa" although everyone usually goes with "Koli". Yes it's Finnish, but as it's a name, I pronounce it as English and don't have a meaning behind it. Old names some people will know me by are "Skatoony" and "Electrolyte". I'm not changing any time soon either, so don't worry about that.

Name, birthday, origin:
Real name: Scott
Birthday: 5th Feb (born 1988)
Origin: Tamworth, England

Group, ex-group(s):
If The Mod Archive and BitFellas count, then I'm currently with these.

What was your first group, your role in that group and what did that group produce?:
If yes to the above, The Mod Archive was my first. I remember joining the IRC channel and getting to know some people back in...I think 2004, where after a while m0d asked if I wanted to help beta test the new website he had been working on, which that eventually made me a quality checker for uploads we received for the archive, then I eventually became a full admin to help maintain the archive when m0d wasn't around. I'm currently inactive as part of the quality check team since college and other real-life issues have been keeping my own time low, and Linux currently has no player that uses BASS MOD.

What motivates you to spend time on the scene?:
The community as a whole and friends mostly. Quite a few people know me in BitFellas, The Mod Archive and in the UK Scene, so I'd prefer to just stick around to be there. I feel I don't contribute much, but I'm a fan of people's work and like to show how much I do like it. I'm more into the music side of the scene, but when I can watch a demo, I certainly will do.

What is your favorite color?:
To be honest, I don't have a favourite colour. I love almost all colours, but the main combinations I like would be black and aqua blue or white and aqua blue, or something close to those. Again, I like all sorts of colours, so even white and orange I'd enjoy looking at.

On what platform(s) did you begin your computing journey, and when was this?:
This dates to around 1996 if I remember correctly. My parents bought an IBM-PC from Packard Bell (before they became Packard Hell). It sported a Pentium 1 at 100Mhz, 8MB of RAM, a 1GiB HDD, a 4x CD-ROM drive and also included a sound card capable of OPL3 music. This was also the computer that got me into computer games and music, mostly thanks to Descent. I simply could not get off that game - I was even worse when I got my hands on Dungeon Keeper and Roller Coaster Tycoon.

What platform(s) do you use now?:
Right now I still use a PC, but I no longer use Windows but Linux instead. I've used Windows for many years but the lack of customisable features and the restrictions Microsoft keep putting in is really starting to bother me. Main reason I use Linux now is Compiz, Emerald, and the fact almost all the software available for it is free. If there's one thing I miss on Linux, it's XMPlay. I really wish it could be ported to Linux.

What is/are your favorite piece(s) of music/s - from a demo production or a scener (released outside of a demo)?:
Oh gosh. Um, I love all sorts of music from the scene. There would be too many for me to list, but the main artists would be Barry Leitch (Utopia/TFX), Karsten Koch (The Blue Valley/Ataris), Skaven (Network/They Crave), Timelord (Mystique Part I/II), Jeroen Tel (Stranglehold/Letting Go), Awesome (Blue Crystal/Dawn main theme), Buzzer (Yesterday Time Passed By/Back To The 80s), Big Alec (Prophecy/Reality), Scy (Checkered Subgliep) - there's literally tons I love.

What is/are your favorite picture(s) - from a demo production or a scener (released outside of a demo)?:
I haven't really looked into the picture side of the scene, so I unfortunately have no favourite right now. I'd say anything abstract would grab my attention, though.

Which project that you worked on was the most exciting and interesting for you? And why?:
The couple of podcasts I've put together for BitJam have been ratehr exciting to do. It's nice to put together some of your favourite music and then having other people appreciate it just as you do, adding more flavour to what people can listen to. I've also helped with some of the other podcasts where it's been the team as a whole putting the podcasts together, although I haven't had much time recently to help out as much as I'd like to.

What is your favorite demo, intro, megademo, retrogame, slideshow, musicdisk, diskmag, wilddemo?:
To be honest I don't really have an "all time favourite", since the ones I've watched I've enjoyed one way or the other. For the Atari Falcon, Lost Blubb is most likely my favourite on that platform. For the PC/XBox 360, the Function 07 invitation due to the energy it has. Another one for the PC I always enjoyed watching is debris - I've shown all three of these to some friends who know nothing about the demoscene, and they simply couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Discuss: minimalistic demos, cracktros, fucktros, joke demos, lamers, compo winners at big parties, demotools, diskmags, chiptunes, glenz vectors, programming languages, photoshop, textmode:
All I can talk about here is chiptunes. I've long adored chiptune music on various platforms, although my favourite is probably the Atari ST. The chip in that is so nasty that it's wonderful to my ears. There are some tracks I love from the C64, but I prefer the percussion people come up with on the Atari ST - I remember someone telling me they thought most snares on the SID sounded like someone hitting a wet cabbage. There's also some chiptune tracks from the Amiga and PC that I like, even if some of the PC ones contain reverb and other effects, I'll still enjoy the sound of those square waves that have been added in.

I'm not sure if I remember this correctly but isn't there some debate regarding what a chiptune really is? If so, I'd say a chiptune is any piece of music that contains at least two instruments consisting of either a pure square, triangle, sine or sawtooth wave.

What percentage of modern demos are 3d flybys?:
I don't really know what is meant by "3d flyby" - I've enjoyed all the demos I've watched so far. It isn't really that many since I have to go with videos at the moment, and I haven't seen much of the older platforms at work so I wouldn't really know about this.

What percentage of older demos are the same effects recycled?:
This is something I can't answer since I haven't been with the scene long enough.

What platform(s) needs more demos?:
Please, release more demos for Linux or at least port them over from Windows. This is another thing I do miss on Linux - most demos are for Windows only. It's quite disappointing since demos that use OpenGL and BASS can easily be made native on Linux (so far as I know anyway - I'm most likely wrong here). I guess the lack of people using Linux makes it so groups don't bother to even try porting it over. I'd prefer to not use Wine either, since the majority of them would most likely fail (the function 07 invitation does).

Which parties do you intend to go to, and which parties would you like to go to? Please describe your personal experiences with your most favourite or impressive party you have ever been at:
I really would love to go to Sundown, but over the last couple of years I have been struggling to get a stable income and I've suffered with health issues over the last five years. It's really unfortunate because friends really would like me to go - I've even had people say they would pay for me just to get there. I really - REALLY - hope to make 2010's Sundown, so long as there is one and I have these bloody issues solved.

How did the scene alter since you are taking an active part in it? Can you explain why?:
To be honest, I don't think the scene has changed at all since I became part of it. Everything seems just the same from when I started to get involved back in 2004. Some communities have grown larger, some have stayed the same.

What are your dreams/goals in life, did scene help you and have you achieved them yet?:
My goal in life is to be with the one I currently love and to actually be happy for once in my damn life. The scene has helped keep my spirits up with all the artistic skills I've seen during my time being part of it, and the scene has actually influenced me somewhat to try going into 3D modelling or vector graphics for a living (such as being freelance). I'm not entirely sure yet though, but my current goal to become a network engineer/administrator is still there.

Finally, do you have some special greetings? Feel free to add links to your graphics, screenshots of effects, modules or other pieces of your work:
Everyone in #modarchive, #bitfellas, #kohina and #ukscene. Specifics - Questar, Arbitar, Geenz, Selkit, Atheron, m0d, Saga_Musix, De_Gopher, jantore, DeltaFire, Livingston, Buzzer, vikenzo, Alien, Buzz, Barry L - and to anyone else I've forgotten!